In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time
teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked
into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted
his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's
digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's
obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that
promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds
himself beset by players willing to kill to take this
ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to
survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's
always been so desperate to escape.
A friend suggested i read Ready Player One. Knowing what a
geek and lover of random information I am. They knew I would
thoroughly enjoy this book.
Amazingly well written and for his first novel it was EPIC. I
was hooked the second I started reading it.
Of course I immediately adored Wade's character. Antisocial,
bad self image, and a love for all things nerdy and fun.I
have to say i was not a big fan of Art3mis. She was so
terrible to Wade.
A must read for any geeky gamer type. It will hook you in til
you finish it. Its full of fun geeky movie reference. And old
gaming references.
5 stars
QUESTIONS FOR ERNEST CLINE
Questions for Ernest Cline, Author of Ready Player One
Q) So it seems you’re a bit of a pop-culture buff. In your
debut novel Ready Player One you incorporate literally
hundreds of pop culture references, many of them in ways that
are integral to the book’s plot. What’s the first thing you
remember geeking out over?
A) Sesame Street and the Muppets. I thought Jim Henson ruled
the universe. I even thought it was pretty cool that I shared
my first name with a muppet. Until the first day of
kindergarten, when I quickly learned that "Ernie" was not a
cool name to have. That was about the time I segued into my
next childhood obsession, Star Wars.
Q) Like the book’s hero, you possess a horrifyingly deep
knowledge of a terrifyingly broad swathe of culture, ranging
from John Hughes movies to super-obscure Japanese animation
to 8-bit videogames to science-fiction and fantasy literature
to role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. What the heck
is wrong with you?! How do you have so much time on your
hands?
A) Well, I’m raising a toddler now, so I don’t have as much
time to geek out as I used to. I think I amassed a lot of
that knowledge during my youth. Like most geeks, I was a
sponge for all kinds of movies, TV shows, cartoons, and video
games. Then as an adult, I worked at a long series of low
paying tech support jobs that allowed me to surf the Internet
all day, and I spent a lot of my cubicle time looking up
obscure pop culture minutiae from my childhood while I waited
for people to reboot their PCs. Of course, I spent most of my
off hours geeking out, too. Luckily, all those hours can now
be classified as "research" for my novel.
Q) You’re stranded on an island and you can only take one
movie with you. What is it?
A) Easy! The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. (Can I take
all of the DVD Extras and Making of Documentaries, too?)
Q) You’re given free tickets and back stage passes to one
concert (artist can be living or dead)- who is it and why?
A) Are we talking about time travel back to a specific
concert in the past here? Because it would be pretty cool to
stand on the roof of Apple Records and watch the Beatles jam
up there. But my favorite rock band that’s still together is
RUSH, and I just bought tickets to see them this June!
Q) Favorite book of all time.
A) That’s an impossible question! I could maybe give you
three favorites: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Galapagos by
Kurt Vonnegut, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams.
Q) Best failed TV show pilot available on Youtube?
A) The unaired Batgirl pilot starring Yvonne Craig.
Q) Favorite episode of Cowboy Bebop?
A) “Ganymede Elegy.” Or maybe “Boogie Woogie Feng Shui.”
Q) What’s the first arcade game you ever played? What’s your
favorite?
A) I was deflowered by Space Invaders. My all time favorite
coin-op game was probably Black Tiger.
Q) Your idea of the perfect day...
A) Play Black Tiger. Then go see Big Trouble in Little China
at the Alamo Drafthouse with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter
doing a live Q&A afterwards. When I get home that night, I
accidentally invent a cheap abundant clean energy source that
saves human civilization. I celebrate by staying up late to
watch old Ultraman episodes with my daughter (who loves
Ultraman even more than I do).
Q) True or False. We hear you own a DeLorean and that you
plan on tricking it out to be a time-travelling,
Ghostbusting, Knight-Rider car.
A) False. I actually plan on tricking it out to be a time-
traveling Ghostbusting Knight Riding Jet Car. It’s going to
have both a Flux Capacitor and an Oscillation Overthruster in
it, so that my Delorean can travel through time AND solid
matter. My personalized plates are ECTO88, just like a
DeLorean that appears in my book.
(I’m so glad that you asked this question, because now I can
justify buying the car as a "promotional tool" for my book.
Everyone reading this is a witness! My DeLorean is helping me
promote my book! The fact that I’ve wanted one since I was
ten years old is totally irrelevant!)
Q) Speaking of DeLoreans: biggest plot hole in the Back to
The Future Films?
A) The Back to The Future Trilogy is perfect and contains no
plot holes! Except for the plot hole inherent in nearly all
time travel films: The planet Earth is moving through space
at an immense speed at all times. So if you travel back in
time, you are traveling to a time when the Earth was in a
different location, and you and your time machine would
appear somewhere out in deep space. For a time machine to be
useful, it also needs to be able to teleport you to wherever
the Earth was/is at your destination time.
Q) But there are two DeLoreans in 1885--why doesn’t Doc dig
out the one he buried in a cave for Marty to find in 1955 and
use the gasoline from it to get the other DeLorean up to
88mph?
A) Doc would have drained the gas tank before he stored a car
for 80 years, so there wouldn’t have been any gas. And
tampering with the DeLorean in the cave at all could
conceivably create a universe-ending paradox, because it has
to be in the cave for Marty to get back to 1885 in the first
place. Totally not a plot hole!
ERNEST CLINE has worked as a short-order cook, fish gutter,
plasma donor, elitist video store clerk, and tech support
drone. His primary occupation, however, has always been
geeking out, and he eventually threw aside those other
promising career paths to express his love of pop culture
fulltime as a spoken word artist and screenwriter. His 2009
film Fanboys, much to his surprise, became a cult phenomenon.
These days Ernie lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, their
daughter, and a large collection of classic video games.
READY PLAYER ONE is his first novel.
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